The city of Virden is located about 25 miles south of the state capital of Springfield. The town was named in honor of John Virden who for a number of years had an inn on the stage line two miles south of the town. When the railroad was being built in 1852 going from Chicago to Alton, they needed towns along the route to supply the locomotives with water and wood and to pick up trade from the farmers who had settled the land. . . .Read more in MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS HISTORY & FAMILIES available in our genealogy library or through this website.